It’s that time again! The 15th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition is open for registrations and submissions. Amateur and professional photographers are encouraged to submit at appmtnphotocomp.org prior to the competition’s close at 5:00 pm on Friday, November 17, 2017. The Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition offers numerous categories that will be chosen as winners with over $4,000 in cash and prizes.
A partnership between Appalachian State University Outdoor Programs, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, and Virtual Blue Ridge, the AMPC celebrates the unique people, places, and pursuits that distinguish the Southern Appalachians. Attracting entries from across the United States, the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition has grown into one the region’s most prestigious photography competitions with almost 1,000 submissions last year and viewed in person by thousands of people at the Turchin Center for Visual Arts in Boone, North Carolina. The AMPC is made possible through the generous sponsorship of the Mast General Store, with support from Appalachian Voices, Bistro Roca, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, Footsloggers, Peabody’s, Nikon Professional Services, and Stick Boy Bread Company.
This year’s competition has one exciting change. In previous years, photographers were limited to 3 images per category, but due to the popular request, the limit has been increased to 15 images per category. See the rules & guidelines for more information.
Competition organizers are excited to announce this year’s Blue Ridge Parkway category theme, sponsored by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and Nikon Professional Services, which is “The Parkway in Color – Capturing the Changing Seasons.” Photographers are encouraged to document the multitude of colors that come and go every year along the Parkway, marking the passing of time through each of the four seasons in the Parkway’s natural habitats. The winning image in this category will receive a $250 cash award, provided by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and a camera from Nikon Professional Services.
Another exciting category for the AMPC this year, highlighting our commitment of raising awareness of the natural environment through this competition is the Our Ecological Footprint category, which is intended to document environmental concerns in the Southern Appalachians. Photographers are encouraged to capture an image that represents our ecological footprint in a creative and poignant way. Appalachian Voices and the Mast General Store are partnering to present this award which will go to the photographer who best captures the spirit of this category with a $500 cash prize package.
Additional competition categories this year include Best in Show, which wins a $1,000 cash prize, the People’s Choice Award presented by Footsloggers which will receive a $350 gift certificate, and the following categories of Culture, Adventure, Flora and Fauna, and Landscape, will each win $250 prize packages from the Mast General Store.
A panel of professional photographers will review all entries and narrow them down to approximately 50 images that will be displayed in exhibition at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, March 2 – June 2, 2018. From those images, the judges will select the final winners which will be showcased during the exhibition.
For the third year in a row, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts (TCVA) is bringing back a popular program open to all photographers who submit their artwork to the annual competition. In-person portfolio reviews will be available on a lottery system, which will give photographers a chance to have a one on one portfolio review with one of our professional photographers who are leading the reviews this year.
The AMPC website, designed and maintained by Virtual Blue Ridge, features the competition’s archives of finalist images. The Galleries section of the site offers one-click access to every finalist image from the past 14 years, making the AMPC archives one of the most comprehensive juried galleries of the Southern Appalachians.
Thank you for your support this year and Happy Shooting!
About Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition:
The AMPC is a partnership between Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs and The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts. AMPC is made possible through the sponsorship of Virtual Blue Ridge, the premier online resource for the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Mast General Store. AMPC receives generous support from Appalachian Voices; Bistro Roca, Inventive American Cuisine; the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation; Footsloggers Outdoor and Travel Outfitters; Peabody’s Wine and Beer Merchants; Nikon Professional Services: and Stick Boy Bread Company. For more information about this photography competition, please visit appmtnphotocomp.org, or call Outdoor Programs at 828.262.2475.